Son volt hearts and minds video9/1/2023 ![]() “I was watching some old episodes where there were two and sometimes three fiddle players in the house band. “Twin fiddles were such a feature of the 1950’s Grand Old Opry,” says Farrar. But Son Volt’s leader also found places on the record to work in another signature of that classic music: a jolt of twin fiddle provided by 2010 Grand Master fiddle champion Justin Branum and Gary Hunt (who also plays mandolin and electric guitar on Honky Tonk). That pedal steel sound that Farrar has grown so fond of playing winds through most of the songs on Honky Tonk, with much of the playing provided by St. And it was almost second nature when I started writing the songs for this record.” So I was immersed in honky tonk music, the Bakersfield sound, in particular. “In the time in between Son Volt records, I started learning pedal steel guitar,” Farrar says. Much of the immediate inspiration for the intense exploration of honky tonk music came directly from Farrar’s recent decision to learn to play a new instrument. ![]() This continuing lyrical turn toward the heart is woven into an even more countrified sound on Honky Tonk. “I was always averse to using certain words in songs,” recalls Farrar, “including ‘love’ and ‘heart.’ But I started using them on and now I guess the floodgates have opened.” Most of the songs on Honky Tonk were written in a two-week burst, and many of its compositions mine a more thematic lyrical vein inspired by a traditional country music aesthetic, which Farrar first explored on the band’s previous record. Dave Bryson provided drums and other percussion. Louis, with Mark Spencer (who also plays bass guitar, pedal steel and keyboards) at the recording helm. Like American Central Dust, Son Volt recorded Honky Tonk in Farrar’s studio in St. “Once again, I didn’t play much if any electric guitar.” “The record is a continuation of what was happening with American Central Dust,” observes Farrar. You never want to be a nostalgia act.”įarrar sees Honky Tonk as a record moving forward on the path toward the more acoustic-based music that Son Volt took on its last record, 2009’s American Central Dust (also on Rounder). There was no strict adherence to methodology of the past. Honky Tonk stays true to what’s so appealing about honky tonk music, while stretching out its familiar contours into new shapes and spaces.įarrar reflects that as he wrote and recorded the music so deeply steeped in tradition for Honky Tonk, “I realized I also wanted these songs to sound more contemporary and modern. That music provides a touchstone for eleven new Son Volt songs that excavate the classic honky tonk sound of Bakersfield (and Texas and Tennessee too) yet distill and reimagine it. “Honky tonk music is about heartache, heartbreak, the road,” Farrar observes. It’s a perspective that’s been hard-won by steady touring and travel through this nation, and Farrar’s almost two-decades as the leader of Son Volt (as well as impressive turns as an acclaimed solo artist and collaborator) have only deepened and sharpened his gift for capturing the sights and sounds of his American journey – a gift which is in evidence once again on Son Volt’s sixth studio album: Honky Tonk.Īfter all, few places are as quintessentially American as the honky tonks where neon beckons to lonely and discontented souls with the promise that sorrows can be drowned in whiskey, cigarettes and a timeless music in which the clear hard truths of its lyrics mine the emotional complexities of life and love as fiddle and pedal steel sweetly commiserate. ![]() This collection of beautifully crafted, autobiographical vignettes encompasses everything from the people Farrar has met and the places he’s journeyed over 20 years as a traveling musician, to his formative childhood experiences, and his parents’ cultural identity as people of the Missouri Ozarks.įrom his earliest recordings in the 1990s as a founding member of Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar has been a keen observer of the American landscape: its beauties and its tragedies, salvations and poisons. Frontman Jay also just released a new book in March via Counterpoint Press called Falling Cars and Junkyard Dogs. The first new album in four years, it's a beauty and a return to classic Jay Farrar/Son Volt form. Son Volt, last here in 2009, returns to the WOW Hall in support of a new album entitled Honky Tonk, released March 5th on Rounder Records. They say that lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice, but don’t you believe it. On Friday, July 26, the Community Center for the Performing Arts and KLCC proudly welcome Son Volt back to the WOW Hall along with special guests Colonel Ford (feat. Here's a link to Son Volt's brand new video for their single "Hearts and Minds" (Top 5 on the Americana Chart!):
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